In the formation of semiconductor devices on a wafer, the number of effective chips is determined by the area of the semiconductor devices and the area of scribe line regions. Consequently, it has been desired that the number of effective chips per wafer be increased by reducing the area of the scribe line regions.
The scribe line regions are regions required for separating a plurality of semiconductor devices formed on a wafer into chips by laser cutting or cutting with a dicing saw.
Semiconductor devices each include a circuit pattern region and an outer peripheral region for absorbing cracks formed when the semiconductor devices are separated from each other, the outer peripheral region being adjacent to the circuit pattern region and a scribe line region. The outer peripheral region for absorbing cracks due to a chip cutting extends from an edge of the scribe line region to a moisture-resistant frame-shaped shield disposed within the chip. The moisture-resistant frame-shaped shield is disposed at the boundary between the circuit pattern region and the outer peripheral region. The moisture-resistant frame-shaped shield is provided in order to prevent moisture from entering the inside of the semiconductor device from the cut surfaces after the plurality of semiconductor devices formed on the wafer are separated from each other.
According to a known technique for reducing the outer peripheral region that absorbs cracks, a groove for preventing propagation of cracks is provided on a cover film provided as an uppermost layer of a semiconductor device at a position between an edge of a scribe line region and a moisture-resistant frame-shaped shield (see, for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. 9-199449). According to another technique, a groove extending from the top of a semiconductor device to a substrate is formed at a position between an edge of a scribe line region and a moisture-resistant frame-shaped shield, and the groove is then filled with a metal material (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-41408).